Thursday, June 14, 2007 Josh wants out in a bad way. When I arrive at CareMeridian, Juan is pushing Josh in the wheelchair around the grounds outside. He sees me and he tries to get out of the chair, lifting his body to get out but the seatbelt is holding him in. Juan is trying to reason with him. "Let's get out of here, Mom," Josh yells. We tell him to hold on, he'll soon be home but he has to get his balance back.. This would have been a great time to get Josh up and walking but Jon, his PT, wasn't there.
We go inside and Tim, his OT, arrives. Josh is still wanting out and is yelling alot. "Let's go. Let's go. Let's go." ...... Tim tells Josh he has to chill and work with him. Tim is showing Josh various hands of cards and asking Josh to pick the better hand. Josh is right on. He's making us laugh. He is yelling which is the better hand. "Pair of Aces" he screams like we're the idiots. Tim then gets a ring toss game and is asking Josh to toss the ring on the various pegs. Josh holds the ring in a throwing position and just freezes for about 10 seconds. He tells Tim "This is stressing me out." He's frustrated. (If I remember correctly Dr. S. said this delayed reaction with brain damage is called aphasia. I have to research it.) Josh tells us he wants to go downtown for his oxygen. He keeps yelling, "where's Eddie?" He insists on calling Mike, the driver, Eddie. We keep telling him his name isn't Eddie, it's Mike. Josh shakes his head like he's disgusted.
Mike arrives. We go downtown and before Josh goes into the oxygen chamber he says, "are we going to Scalini's tonight?" He cracks us up. Josh goes into the chamber willingly. I think he likes it in there. I am ready to go in myself. I will definitely check it out sometime soon! Bob Sands arrives and we talk for a while about Josh's progess. He wants me to be aggressive with Josh, not to help him so much, so he'll gain his independence sooner. He also says to bring him in with scrubs on, that it must be embarassing for Josh to arrive with boxer shorts everyday. Bob who is the ultimate optimist says JOSH WILL MAKE A FULL AND COMPLETE RECOVERY. THIS IS JUST A BUMP IN THE ROAD! I'd say it's a pretty big bump. Bob always makes you feel good. He shows me the picture of the guy who had the stroke and how he gave him a cold beer! Remember that story, Mike? It's actually on the hbot website.
We arrive back at CareMeridian. Josh is roaring to go. Jon arrives, thank heavens, and gets Josh on his feet. Josh stands up and is walking with help from Jon. His balance is off and he needs to learn to distribute his weight evenly on both legs. Josh is yelling and carrying on, calling everyone by their wrong names and has the place in stitches. It's really not funny, but you can't help but laugh.
After Josh's PT, he's in his room watching golf and he's yelling at the television. Later on the news was on and there was something about the war in Iraq and Josh starts screaming at the soldiers on the television, "Don't go to Iraq. You'll die. You'll die. You'll get killed." Juan is laughing. Josh is calling Juan Eddie. We ask what his name is and he is looking for his name tag to read his name. It seems that Josh has trouble laying down new memories just like Dr. Ahearn said. Hopefully this will improve with time. Josh then says "What's CareMeridian?" Juan tells him. Josh then tells me, "Mom, you always repeat yourself a thousand times."
Josh fianlly falls asleep and I leave....
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